FCC Chair Warns Broadcasters Over Polls He Calls Fake

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr warned broadcasters on October 21 that airing polls he considers fake or designed to suppress turnout could violate federal licensing obligations, while advising stations to provide audiences with additional context. He did not identify any specific polls in his post on X, and the warning did not announce an enforcement case. Carr said there had been a surge in fake and suppression polls intended to interfere with the electoral process. He accused journalists and broadcasters of airing or amplifying polls without informing viewers that they might lack a scientific or accurate basis. He invoked the FCC’s rules against news distortion and broadcast hoaxes, but did not name any station or poll as a target. The statement leaves open how the agency would apply those rules to coverage of polling. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said last month that an incorrect poll would not, by itself, meet the news-distortion standard. She described the standard as requiring deliberate misrepresentation of something significant. A commentator cited in coverage characterized the broadcast-hoax rule as narrowly focused on knowingly false information...